Generally, the present invention is directed toward a new and improved ice-making apparatus of the type including a combination evaporator and ice-forming assembly and having a substantially cylindrical freezing chamber with an auger rotatably mounted therein for scraping ice particles from the inner surface of the freezing chamber in order to form quantities of relatively wet and loosely associated ice particles. More specifically, the present invention is directed toward an improved auger construction for such an ice-making apparatus.
Various ice-making machines and apparatus have been provided for producing so-called flake or chip ice and have frequently included vertically-extending rotatable augers that scrape ice crystals or particles from tubular freezing cylinders disposed about the periphery of the augers. The augers in some of such prior devices typically urge the scraped ice in the form of a relatively wet and loosely associated slush through open ends of their feezing cylinders, and perhaps through a die or other device in order to form the flake or chip ice product. Still other prior ice-making machines or apparatuses have included devices for forming the discharged slush into relatively hard ice in order to form discrete ice pieces of various sizes, including relatively large ice pieces commonly referred to as "cubes" and relatively small ice pieces commonly referred to as "nuggets".
Furthermore, in the ice-making machines or apparatuses of the above-described type having a rotatable auger, the augers have typically been very complex and expensive, and very high radial forces have been exerted on the auger bearings, thus requiring a relatively powerful drive means that is expensive to purchase, maintain, and operate. Accordingly, in response to the need for an auger design that is capable of reducing the bearing loads during scraping and that is less expensive and complex to produce and less expensive to operate, alternate auger constructions have been devised with a view toward reducing auger energy usage, and thus increasing the overall efficiency of the ice-making apparatus, and toward reducing the cost and complexity of auger construction.
Some examples of the above-mentioned improved auger constructions are described and claimed in the previous related patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,475, issued July 28, 1987, and owned by the same assignee as that of the present invention. The disclosure of such previous patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,475, is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
An ice-making machine or apparatus according to the present invention, whether or not including the above-discussed interchangeable head assemblies or other components, also preferably includes an auger member or assembly having one or more generally spiral flight portions with discontinuous or interrupted ice-scraping edges that serve to break up the relatively wet and loosely associated slush ice quantities produced in the combination evaporator and ice-forming assembly into smaller pieces and that tends to reduce and balance the loads on the auger bearings. In various forms of the invention, the auger member or assembly can be of a solid, one-piece construction, or can optionally be composed of a series of discrete disc elements or segments axially stacked on a rotatable shaft and secured for rotation therewith. In such an alternate construction, the discrete disc elements can be individually molded from inexpensive and lightweight synthetic plastic materials. In another alternate form of the invention, the auger member or assembly can include a rotatable core onto which the auger body is integrally molded from a synthetic plastic material. In this alternate embodiment of the invention, the spiral flight portion can be molded along with the remainder of the body of the auger or can be a discrete structure integrally molded therein.
It is accordingly a general object of the present invention to provide a new and improved ice-making machine, apparatus or system.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved ice-making machine, apparatus or system having reduced energy requirements by way of a new construction of the auger assembly.
Additional objects, advantages and features of the present invention will bcome apparent from the following description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.